During his recent State of the Union address, U.S. President Donald Trump underscored the grave threat a nuclear North Korea presents to the United States and its allies and called on the international community to jettison the complacency and concessions that have proven ineffective. Our two countries, Japan and the U.S., are in full agreement: Successfully confronting a geopolitical crisis of this magnitude requires courageous leadership and strategic partnerships that span the globe.

The U.S. and Japan are working closely with the Indo-Pacific region at large to resolve this challenge and to ensure global security and stability for the future.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently reformed domestic legal systems to give more authority to our defense forces to closely coordinate with U.S. forces, positioning Japan, in certain cases, to be able to stand together with the U.S. in the need for collective self-defense. This coordination is critical, along with trilateral cooperation that includes South Korea, because the geopolitical challenges in Northeast Asia require Japan, the U.S. and South Korea to work together as one to contain the North Korean threat.